A comprehensive Career Guidance and Counselling service is available to all students at Good Counsel College. Educational/Vocational counselling assists the students to grow in self-knowledge and self-esteem by providing information to enable them to make constructive life choices and future plans.
Armed with the information pupils are then free and responsible for their own choices and actions. The Guidance Counsellor helps the pupils to recognise the range of alternatives available after completing the Leaving Certificate and assists them to develop the skills to consciously shape their own career path.
The aims of the Guidance programme are as follows:
- Overcome any information deficit on careers/education.
- Foster a sense of personal responsibility for identifying future educational/vocational goals.
- Provide experiences that promote career development and prepare students for the transition to work/higher education.
- Focus on an individual’s strength and potentials so as to create a strategy for Promoting discussion of student’s educational/careers development in order to discourage excuses for irresponsible action.
- Introduce and foster a process of evaluating realistically, attainable career/higher education goals.
- Encourage the pupils to define expectations.
Guidance and Counselling is available at the Fr. Jackie Power Pastoral Care Centre. The Guidance Counsellor is Ms. Jane Byrne.
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Senior Cycle Subject Choices
When it comes to making Subject choices it is important to get advice and to choose wisely. There are a number of important aspects to this exercise. From the Leaving Cert subjects options available in our School you must choose your subjects with the following in mind
- There are certain subjects that are essential for entry into particular courses, colleges, and careers.
- Points for third –level courses are calculated on your best 6 subjects.
- In terms of entry to third level colleges almost all subjects count equally for points.
- It is important to realise that in choosing your subject options, you are not locked into specific careers or eliminated from others. You do not have to study construction studies to become a builder, or Accounting or any business subject to become an accountant. Nor do you have to do Engineering in the Leaving Certificate to become an engineer.
- The various third level colleges all give the subjects requirements necessary for entry into their colleges and courses in their prospectus. When deciding your subject options never pick a subject under the fallacy that a subject is easy.
- When deciding your subjects options never leave out a subject, because you believe it is only studied by the very studious.
- Pick subjects that you have enjoyed to date, subjects that you have got good results in to date, ask your subject Teacher for advice on the course content.
- Never pick a subject because, your friends are doing that subject, be true to your interests in choosing your subjects options, and do not hesitate to ask for advice.
Irish Leaving Cert Examination Points Calculation Grid.
Leaving Cert Grade | Higher Paper | Lower Paper | |
A1 | 100 | 60 | |
A2 | 90 | 50 | |
B1 | 85 | 45 | |
B2 | 80 | 40 | |
B3 | 75 | 35 | |
C1 | 70 | 30 | |
C2 | 65 | 25 | |
C3 | 60 | 20 | |
D1 | 55 | 15 | |
D2 | 50 | 10 | |
D3 | 45 | 5 |
25 Bonus Points are awarded for Higher level Maths, D3 or above.
For information on upcoming career events see www.qualifax.ie/careerevents
Useful Links
Links to Career Websites
Links to Third Level Colleges Universities
- Dublin City University- www.dcu.ie
- University College Cork- www.ucc.ie
- University College Dublin- www.ucd.ie
- National University of Ireland Galway- www.nuigalway.ie
- National University of Ireland Maynooth- www.nuim.ie
- Trinity College Dublin- www.tcd.ie
- University of Limerick- www.ul.ie
- National College of Ireland – www.nci.ie
Institutes of Technology
- Athlone Institute of Technology- www.ait.ie
- Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown- www.itb.ie
- Institute of Technology, Carlow- www.itcarlow.ie
- Cork Institute of Technology- www.cit.ie
- Crawford College of Art & Design CIT Crawford College of Art and Design
- Dún Laoghaire Inst of Art, Design and Technology- www.iadt.ie
- Dundalk Institute of Technology- www.dkit.ie
- Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology- www.gmit.ie
- Letterkenny Institute of Technology- www.lyit.ie
- Limerick Institute of Technology- www.lit.ie
- Institute of Technology, Sligo- www.itsligo.ie
- Institute of Technology, Tallaght- www.it-tallaght.ie
- Institute of Technology, Tralee- www.ittralee.ie
- Waterford Institute of Technology- www2.wit.ie
Colleges of Education
- Froebel College of Education www.froebel.ie
- The Marino Institute of Education www.mie.ie
- Mary Immaculate College, Limerick- www.mic.ul.ie
- Mater Dei Institute of Education- www.materdei.ie
- St Patrick’s College of Education- www.spd.dcu.ie